NEW DELHI, Sept 1 - The Supreme Court today referred to a larger bench a plea of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) seeking direction to all states for mandatorily giving information to it about any encounter killings in their jurisdiction for the purposes of enquiry.
A bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and R Banumathi said it would be appropriate if a larger three-judge bench decides the issues raised in the petition.
Senior advocate Gopal Subramaniam and advocate Shobha Gupta, appearing for the Commission, said it is a pure question of law as the Act provided for it to enquire on its own or on a petition presented to it by a victim or any person on his behalf into any complaint of violation of human rights by a public servant.
The apex court said a larger bench will look into all the issues.
The court had on July 4 directed various states to file their replies in eight weeks to the NHRC�s plea seeking direction for mandatory giving information about any encounter killings.
The NHRC, in its plea filed in 2014, has sought direction to state governments and police authorities that they should continue to provide the information asked for by it in accordance with the guidelines and provisions of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, to probe the cases of encounter killings.
It also sought direction to the state governments that they should not refuse to comply with the recommendations made by Commission.
The NHRC said that due to the apex court verdict of 2014 by which certain guidelines were framed, its role in such enquiries has virtually been nullified. � PTI
